The Tombs of the Kings and Archbishops in St Austin's Abbey
http://kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/archaeologia-cantiana/ Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382 © 2017 Kent Archaeological Society ( THE TOMBS OF THE KINGS AND ARCH-, BISHOPS IN ST. AUSTIN'S ABBEY. (Based on a Lecture given by request of the Dean in the Cathedral Chapter House, Canterbury, on Thursday, July 9th, 1925.) BY THE REV. R. U. POTTS, M.A.., F.S.A., BURSAR OF ST. AtIGUSTINE'S COLLEGE. THE following is an attempt to give a brief collective account of the tombs of the Kings and Archbishops in St. Augustine's Abbey, both of those of which some remains have been found; and of those of which a record is preserved in writing. How the bodies of the Kings and Archbishops came to be buried in St. Augustine's is explained in Bede's descrip- tion. of the founding of the Abbey.* After mentioning the' founding of the Cathedral within the city, he goes on "He(i.e.,Augustine) alsobuiltamonasterynotfarfrom the' city to the eastward, in which by his advice Ethelbert erected from the foundation the church of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul; and enriched it with several donations: wherein the bodies of the same Augustine and of all the bishops of Canterbury and of the Kings of Icent might be buried." The foundation of the monastery, according to the Augustinian Ohronicle, was begun in 598, though the church was. not completed at the death of St; Augustine in 605. It was consecrated, according to Bede, by Augustine's successor, Laurence. Its distinct function as the home of the monks and the royal and episcopal burial-place is described at some length by Gotselin,t the monk who lived.
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